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Robo Savage
Robo Savage, alternatively Robosavage, was a robot which competed in Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars, filmed as part of the ninth series. It was designed by football pundit Robbie Savage, who was mentored by Jason Marston throughout the competition process. Despite only winning one battle in the head-to-head stage, Robo Savage reached the Grand Final of Episode 2, placing second to Kadeena Machina. The name Robo Savage is a pun based on Robbie Savage's own name. Design Robo Savage's design represented Robbie Savage's home country of Wales in various ways - the robot had spiked 'dragon wings' on the side, and the robot used a red and green colour scheme. Its weapon was a rear-hinged flipper, as Savage was aware of the success of flippers in Series 8http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2016/robot-wars-celebrities. Its armour consisted of 3mm HARDOX and 4mm aluminium, the only robot in Battle of the Stars to not be completely armed in steel. The full-pressure flipping arm initially had a fairly short reach, but this was extended after its first battle. However, the power of the flipper was comparatively low at 825psi, despite boasts of a 3 tonne total lift, and only had enough gas for 15 flips. Additionally, Robo Savage's wheels were exposed, making them vulnerable to damage from spinning and crushing weapons. With its wedged box-shaped design, exposed wheels and flipping arm, Robo Savage bore a close resemblance to the robots built by Inertia Labs for BattleBots, particularly T-Minus, The Matador and Bronco. This style of flipper was also used by Ceros in Series 7. The Team Robbie Savage's career started as a footballer, when he joined the Manchester United youth football team, before eventually playing for full-fledged teams including Leicester City and Birmingham City. Savage has now retired as a professional player, but is now a pundit on BBC football broadcasts, and hosts a radio show on BBC Radio 5 Live, 606. As a footballer, Savage caused controversy and was regularly yellow carded by referees, which was often referenced by Jonathan Pearce. Robbie Savage was joined on the team by his cousin, who was mostly known as 'Uncle Matt' in the episode, and another of his friends. Matt drove Robo Savage, with Robbie operating the flipper. Jason Marston is the sole builder of Thor, which finished fourth in the Series 8 Grand Final. Based on this success, Marston was chosen to mentor Savage, and make repairs to the robot when necessary. As with all Battle of the Stars competitors, Robo Savage was built by Robo Challenge, producers of the show who had also built the House Robots. Robot History Battle of the Stars Robo Savage competed in Episode 2, where it first fought against Kadeena Cox's robot Kadeena Machina. However, before the fight, Robbie and Jason explained that Robo Savage's flipper was having issues retracting back into its resting position, which would potentially limit its effectiveness in battle. Robo Savage started quickly, darting across the arena to meet Kadeena Machina, which made little movement. Robo Savage then came in with a flip, but it was mistimed and Robo Savage's flipper came into contact with Kadeena Machina's vertical disc, sending sparks flying. Kadeena Machina then moved towards Robo Savage, with more sparks churned out as its weapon made contact with Robo Savage's front. Robo Savage backed away and kept a considerable distance away from Kadeena Cox's machine, before coming in to swing its rear-end into its opponent. Robo Savage continued to attack, ramming into Kadeena Machina once more, before missing with another flip. Kadeena Machina then connected a considerable hit, which buckled the front lip of Robo Savage's flipper. Robo Savage tried to assert itself once more with a drive towards Kadeena Machina, but Kadeena Machina landed more hits on Robbie Savage's machine, before shattering one of its wheels off. Robo Savage desperately tried to hobble away, but Kadeena Machina inflicted further damage to the armour of Robo Savage, before cease was called. The punishment for Robo Savage was not ended there, however, as Shunt came in for the last word by tossing Robo Savage around with his front scoop. For Robo Savage's second fight against Neil Oliver's Soldier Ant, changes were made to the flipper, with the front lip made considerably longer. In the fight, Soldier Ant made the first notable movement with a drive into Robo Savage. After both robots jostled for position, Soldier Ant came in with a strong attack that pierced a top panel of Robo Savage, which was now notably venting CO2. Soldier Ant then managed to get purchase on the back of Robo Savage and attempted to drag it towards further danger but Robo Savage managed to free itself. Robo Savage then came onto the attack itself, and after manoeuvring for position, managed to flick Soldier Ant over before placing it onto the flame pit. With Soldier Ant unable to self-right, Robo Savage had managed to earn its first victory, earning three points for a knockout. After the battle, a clearly delighted Robbie Savage decided to revel in victory by taunting Archie and Teddy Oliver from the Soldier Ant team. Any sort of victory against Jordan Stephens' bottom-placed Dee in Robo Savage's final Head-to-Head battle would be enough to confirm its place in the final of the episode. In the opening stages, Dee stayed near the centre of the Arena, while Robo Savage moved to the side. Dee then moved towards Robo Savage, with Robbie's machine carrying out the first decisive attack, batting Dee aside with a ram. Dee started spinning, but Robo Savage quickly halted its attack by flicking Dee. Dee then began to drift towards Dead Metal, and Robo Savage tried to push Dee into the CPZ, but it evaded danger, with Robo Savage called into some evasive action as well to avoid the House Robot's pincers. Dee then drove itself over the flame pit, before having one of its tyres slashed by the sharp edge of Robo Savage's elevated flipper. Dee then managed to connect with hits to Robo Savage as it spun on the spot and came in with an overhead hit. By this stage, Robo Savage's flipper base had been bent downwards, and one more hit from Dee completely restricted Robo Savage's forward movement. With time ticking down, Robo Savage lifted its flipper up to enable it to come in with one last charge, before cease was called. The Judges awarded a split decision in favour of Dee, a ruling that was met with uproar from Robo Savage's team, to the extent that Robbie himself went up to the judges in protest. With the loss against Dee confirmed, Robo Savage's team had to wait for the result of the final Head-to-Head between Kadeena Machina and Soldier Ant before finding out if they had managed to seal a place in the Grand Final of Episode 2. Kadeena Machina came out victorious, which meant that Robbie Savage would face Kadeena Cox and her robot Kadeena Machina for a second time in the final battle of the episode. Before the battle, Robbie Savage made sure to continue his feud with Soldier Ant's team, as he teased Archie Oliver, telling him to watch him in the final. However, in private with mentor Jason Marston, Robbie was less confident. Unfortunately for Robbie, his fears came true, as Kadeena Machina managed to immobilise Robo Savage in one hit, causing damage to a top panel and tearing a chunk out of a wheel. Kadeena Machina then came in to inflict more harm before cease was called. However, the punishment to Robo Savage was not yet over, as it faced the wrath of the House Robots, with Shunt axing the beaten finalist, before Sir Killalot hung it over the flame pit. With the result confirmed, Robo Savage finished as the runner-up in Episode 2 of Battle of the Stars. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 1 *Losses: 3 Series Record NOTE: This series record reflects the performance of mentor Jason Marston Trivia *Robo Savage's team exceeded the maximum number of permitted team members, with five people. *Robo Savage was the first robot to escape the Head-to-Heads with only a single win, and is one of only two to do so, alongside Sabretooth. *Robo Savage was one of eight robots whose silhouette was used as a placeholder when demonstrating the Series 9 episode format. During this demonstration, Robo Savage was eliminated in a four way melee with Terror Turtle, Eruption and PP3D, all of whom qualified (despite it not being possible for three robots to qualify from a four-way melee). References External Links *Robbie Savage on Wikipedia *Robbie Savage's Twitter Category:Robots from Wales Category:Battle of the Stars competitors Category:Robots with more Losses than Wins Category:Robots with puns for names Category:Robots named after real people Category:Animal Based Robots Category:Robots with Rear-hinged Flippers Category:Side Competition Runners Up Category:Robots which debuted in Series 9 Category:Robots which only fought in Series 9 Category:Robots from Wrexham Category:Stock Robots Category:Robots named after their team members